________________
115
MODERN HINDUISM. frequently she is the subject of painful tyranny and abuse on the part of the older women of the zenana.
Yet the life of a Hindu wife is heaven compared with was that of a childless widow. The faithful wife Widows.
was long expected to sacrifice herself on his funeral pile (suttee), and, according as she did it or not, was lauded or cursed. Many widows in the past, from lack of courage to perform what they vowed, had themselves drugged and forcibly immolated. Frequently widows would most calmly and impassionately devote
themselves to the fire, never giving a cry or Suttee.
uttee a sigh of pain. So powerfully can the belief that they are doing what is pleasing to the gods and their deceased husbands work upon the Hindu women. In 1830 suttee was prohibited in States under British rule; but it was still practised in some of the native States. Mr. Wilkins states that the last case he heard of was about 1880.
The extreme difficulty experienced in abolishing suttee is explained by the treatment to which surviving widows are subjected, especially childless widows, who are forbidden to marry again, and become the household drudges and objects of scorn of the zenana. One meal a day, with a fast for two days a month, is their hard lot; with the deprivation of ornaments and of every pleasure. In many cases the sufferings of a widow are such that she would gladly die. No doubt the older widows are able to assert themselves, and in time gain influence. But enough has been said to show that the key to much of the religious and social question in India is bound up with the condition and education of women. Some improvement has already come with the improved education of the better classes, and the partial opening of the zenanas to European ladies and to lady doctors; and herein lies great hope for the future.
The Hindu system is such that merit and pardon can Disconnection be obtained for gross offences without any reof morals and form of heart and life. Thus it is not surpris
religion. ing that theft, dishonesty, lying, ingratitude, forgery, perjury, revenge, cruelty, and personal immorality
